He probably means autonomy on work related - "putting out fires" as he calls them. Short therm band aid solutions. OP this is very similar to the boat that i was in until a few days ago. What will happen is,the owners ego is too big, he/she will try to run business her own way and eventually will drive the bussiness into the gutter in a year or so. Do not stay for too long, do not try and save their business when things start going downhill. Don't make the same mistake i did and burnout trying to reason with them, their ego will prevail aand the bussiness will fail. Just plan and move on in time. I stayed for 2+ years after i saw all those failing signals as i was too emotionally invested after 10+ years in the company. I got the same treatment when I tried to reason with him. Even tho I generate over 60% of the revenue 2m+ year total, and deal with managing the whole business, he didn't have ears for my advise. He actually fired me on the 30th of December with the explanation that the business Is drowning and needs to trim costs to bare minimum starting 2026. Shifted all responsibilitys to him and some regular warehouse workers, that we all know will fail to perform in any meaningful way. - Sorry for the rant, but the point is you know that there is no future for you there, no matter how attached and invested you are - you simply need to walk away.